the debut of kevin

"No no no! That's not good! Again!" Minjae sighed as he stopped playing the piano.

"Excuse me, sir..." Kevin was standing in front of him. They were practicing his debut song, but it didn't really go well. "What did I do wrong? I don't understand..."

"You sing without feeling, Kevin! Put some more vibe into it!" His vocal coach, Minjae explained with big gestures. Kevin had known him for a long time now, since he was a teen. Minjae sighed, seeing the defeat in the other's eyes.

"You know, Kevin..." he smiled gently, "Your big brother used to have the exact same problem. Right before our debut, he was always scolded by the vocal coach..." Kevin smiled at hearing the story of Daehwan and replied excitedly, "Really? Is that so?"

Minjae suddenly started to grin, remembering the times of when Daehwan was his maknae, a young boy who couldn't put his feelings into singing. "He was in fact worse than you, Kevin... He put literally no emotion in his voice! He only wanted to dance, and it was so obvious! He was such a troublemaker sometimes!" Minjae's complains about Kevin's big brother made him cheer up, and he bursted into a happy laughter.

It attracted some others into the room. Trainees of what people have started to call 'the sole project'. The group of male trainees that were the elite, the big ones, the ones that had a chance to be the next boy of the month. The ones who were attracted to the laughing were Nijiro Sora and Jeon Daehyun, the youngest ones.

"What's going on here?" Sora blinked, peeking through the doorway with curious puppy eyes. "I was telling old stories about Daehwan's mistakes to cheer Kevin up," Minjae smiled widely, inviting the two maknaes in.

"Why was he feeling down though?" Daehyun walked in with a slight pout on his face. It was adorable. He was the tallest, huge, but such a cute maknae. Kevin sighed, installing himself on the ground to take a break. Sora and Daehyun immediately sat down with him.

"I can't do it... My vocals aren't good enough..." Daehyun's jaw dropped as Sora pouted and replied, "Kevin, you're known to be a fast learner, you'll get the hang of it soon!" The Japanese boy kept pouting, trying to out-cute the real maknae unconciously.

"I wonder why they chose me as the first member... I don't really have anything to show..." the older sighed. "But Kevin-san..." Sora looked up at the older, still pulling a sulky face, "You are appealing to the fans!"

"Yeah!" Daehyun immediately agreed, cutting off the other, "You're our variety man! The boy who makes hearts melt with his personality and smile-" The optimistic maknae grinned, leaning in to pat Kevin's head. He opened his mouth to continue his encouragement, but now it was his turn to be cut off.

"Hyun's right," the three boys and Minjae all turned their heads to see Heejung standing in the doorway. "They decided to pick a stan attractor first, so fans get interested in us. I predict that every month it will switch between the charming members and the skilled members." At Heejung's smart words, Kevin brightened up. "Is that so, hyung?" he smiled hopefully. The older nodded, smiling.

"Actually, if you look at us... We have many members that look quite... intimidating. Especially me. It would be a mistake to let us loose on the world first. The CEO made a great decision, but the short preparing time was a big mistake..." Heejung chuckled, making the others chuckle too. He was right, it would be crazy to put him on the first month, Kevin appealed to the widest variety of fans and was probably the only one who would be able to learn the song in a week.

"You still have a few days to go, hyung! Heaps of time!" Daehyun brightened up the mood even more as he stood up, preparing to leave and let Kevin practice again. "He's right!" Sora agreed, following the maknae's example, "We all believe in you, Kevin-san! Ganbatte!"

"Fighting to you too! I need more members with me! I'm already lonely..." Kevin went back to his usual cheerful self, sulking from his loneliness as the only real member, even though it has only been a few days since he started training on his own. The three trainees said their goodbyes and left to resume their own training, so Kevin could continue preparing too.

A FEW DAYS LATER

"Hey hyung, do you know how this works?" Kevin muttered. He and his big brother were sitting on chairs together at their filming site, the younger bro trying to figure out the camera. "Oh, that camera? We used it for our first vlog we ever made, during our own mv filming for Fanfare... Wow, it's been a while, we've had a repackage of Fanfare and our first unit debut now, and a second one coming up soon... We were all so nervous back then..." Daehwan got lost in his feelings of nostalgia, grinning to himself, but Kevin interrupted him.

"Yeah yeah, bro, but I want to know how this works! CEO Lee wants footage for Sole TV, like how Loona TV's a thing," he rolled his eyes before giving his older brother a glare. "Well- Actually... Let me see..." Daehwan got flustered, but took the camera in his hands anyway and started to examine it.

"I... don't know how to do it either-" Daehwan sighed in defeat, putting the camera in Kevin's lap, who whined. "But you just said you used it before!" he was about to hit his big brother, but retracted his hand in time.

"I didn't use it!" Daehwan defended himself, "The ones who actually filmed with this were Jinhee and Arthit. They were always the ones running around with the camera."

"Do you guys need help?" Boyeon, Sunlight's hairstylist, approached the two brothers. "Yeah..." Daehwan sighed. "We need help with turning on this camera for Sole TV," Kevin explained, sighing the exact same way. Boyeon took the camera in her hands.

"It's simple, boys! You just have to press this button," the hairstylist had a triumphant smile as she demonstrated how to turn on the camera. "It was that easy?" Kevin jumped out of his chair, immediately snatching that damned camera. "Thank you, noona!" Daehwan stood up too and bowed at Boyeon.

"Psh, and people say youth have more knowledge of technology..." The staff member chuckled before strutting away, statisfied by her victory.

"Now, let's do this, Kev! Let's give the fans some good content!" Daehwan encouraged his brother by giving him a pat on the back. "Hell yeah, hyung!" Kevin was just as enthusiastic before trying to find a good angle for filming.

"Lights, camera... action!" the younger brother said, bright smile on his face and a snap of his fingers, and then he started, "Hello, this is Kevin!" "And Daehwan too!" Daehwan interrupted his brother, who glared at him. "This is my show! You're just a featuring!" he whined. It made Daehwan laugh.

"Respect your hyung and sunbae, will you?" the older one pinched the younger's cheek, who continued whining. "Come on! Don't ruin my image on the first seconds of Sole TV!"

"No worries, bro, fans will think you're adorable!" Daehwan laughed again, but Kevin was not amused. "I don't want to be adorable! I want to be cool!" It made the older sigh, "You? Cool? With that face? Impossible." Kevin started to get grumpy and crossed his arms like a little child.

"Anyway," after Kevin didn't continue, Daehwan took the lead, "We're currently filming for Kevin's debut mv! I'm so excited to see my little brother debut, what about you, Kev? How do you feel?" the older brother looked at the other, but he didn't get the response he expected.

"I-I..." Kevin had completely changed, actually realising he was going to debut, and this was going to be viewed by hundreds, no, thousands, hopefully way more. "I... I'm n-nervous..." the boy was still struggling, and Daehwan immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Hyung... What should I d-do? I-I don't know what t-to do-" kevin looked at his hands, which were trembling heavily, before looking at his big brother with panic in his eyes. Kevin got nervous easily, and he was on the verge of a breakdown. Daehwan shushed him, turning off the camera immediately and putting it away.

"No worries, Kev," Daehwan rested his hands on Kevin's shoulders, "You will be fine, you will do well, the fans will love you, just be yourself, okay? We'll think about what to do with the Sole TV later and focus on actual mv filming now..."

"Yes, hyung..." Kevin calmed down, but looked sad that he couldn't do the Sole TV stuff. Daehwan pulled his brother into a tight hug, rubbing his back to calm him down. "I'm so proud of you, my baby brother."

"I'm not a baby!" Kevin whined, and Daehwan laughed, ruffling the other's hair. "Here he is! The good old Kevin!"

"Kevin! We'll start filming now!" Somin, the manager called. "I'm coming, noona!" Kevin replied and left his big brother behind, who gave him an encouraging pat on the .

"What are you going to do about that nervous wreck of a boy?" The voice behind him made Daehwan turn around. It was another trainee who had just arrived to watch Daehwan. It was Nikolai Argenti, probably the best-looking one of the sole project, along with Daehyun, not Kevin, but maknae Daehyun. Daehwan smiled, looking at the younger. "I have a plan, but I won't be able to execute it myself..." Niko was interested.

"What is it, Daehwan-hyung?" he smiled mysteriously, which showed off his features very well. "Secret camera..." Daehwan smirked back, but Niko didn't get it at first.

"What do you mean, hyung?" Daehwan chuckled, turning on the camera again and handing it to the other. "Kevin's too nervous to actually be himself in front of the camera right now, but during the day, I'm sure he'll show his crazy self which will attract the fans. We just need to film it, in secret..." the older explained, still with a smug grin on his face.

"Ohhh! I get it! That's a great idea actually! So I just have to like... be a spy?" Niko nodded excitedly. "Can I join you, Niko?" Likun had arrived too, and was now standing next to the other two. "Yes, we can take turns, otherwise Kevin might get suspicious as why one of the trainees is always missing," Niko grinned, "Maybe we can get a third one to do it as well. Sora would love to do it, but he'd give us away after like 10 seconds."

"Maybe Jineul? I think he's good at this stuff," Likun suggested, and the other two both gave him a nod. "Let's do it..." Niko smirked.

"I have faith that you gather good footage for Sole TV, boys! You can film yourselves and the others too but you'll be blurred, sadly," Daehwan patted the younger two's shoulders like he was sending them off on a mission to save the world.

"Thank you, hyung!" Likun saluted, getting way into it already. "Mission: get good footage for Sole TV, start!" Nikolai was just as excited and raised his fist in the air. "That's a lame name for a mission, you know," Likun nudged the older as they walked away from Daehwan, going to chat with the rest of the Sole project trainees. 11 young boys who were hoping that they would be next.

"It's going to be sad to see them get separated..." Daehwan sighed, and headed the other way to watch his little brother.

The mv filming went well, just like the rest of preparations, and Kevin made his debut. He got good response.

The Sole TV episode was released the next day. When Kevin saw the short episode, he sighed in relief. It was just his introduction and it didn't really show his nervous breakdown, just his brother calling him cute. But the next day, oh the next day...

"Niko! Likun!" Kevin stormed into the practice room, startling all the sole project trainees. The two, who had filmed themselves, announcing their plans before doing their secret camera mission, started to laugh immediately.

"Why did you do that? Secretly filming me and exposing myself to the fans? I did so much weird stuff and this is only the first episode!" Kevin whined, attacking Likun, but it was more of a cuddle fight than a fist fight.

"Well, our mission was to show your real self," Niko spoke while the other culprit was struggling under Kevin's body weight, "Since you couldn't do it in front of the camera yourself."

Kevin stopped attacking Likun and sat up, still sitting on the other boy. He pouted, looking down, "I guess that's true... I should work harder..."

"No worries, baby Kev!" Jiseon grinned, attacking Kevin this time with cuddles and love. "You'll be used to it in no time!" he grinned, pouring all his motherly love over the struggling Kevin. "Oh my god hyung stop-" the younger struggled as Likun laughed, because he had just experienced it himself.

"We should continue working hard as well, I heard the new member might be selected tomorrow," Ashton, who had taken on the role of the group's dad, made the whole group freeze.

"Oh my god seriously?" Junxian blinked, and was the first one to get up. "Holy we need to get our up and practice more!" Dohun got up as well, and the rest followed.

"Finally I won't be lonely anymore!" Kevin cheered, and the others cheered too.

"Let's work hard and debut!"